The present invention relates to an installation for filling receptacles that enables the receptacles to be filled with product in varying combinations of different ingredients.
Document FR-A-2 809 377 discloses a receptacle-filling method comprising the steps of using a first filling station having a series of filling positions to fill each receptacle in part with a first ingredient, of transferring the receptacles to at least a second filling station likewise having a series of filling positions, and of finishing off the filling of each receptacle in succession with another ingredient. The xe2x80x9cingredientxe2x80x9d of each station may itself comprise a respective mixture of ingredients.
A feed vessel is associated with each filling station so that by putting different ingredients in the different feed vessels, it is possible to modify the composition of the final product merely by modifying the proportions of the ingredients introduced in the receptacles in each of the filling stations, without it being necessary to modify the composition of the ingredient contained in each filling vessel.
In that document, the filling installation comprises a plurality of filling stations, each having a rotary platform supporting a series of filling positions. Each filling position has a filling nozzle and an associated weighing member.
In order to obtain the desired composition, the corresponding proportion of each ingredient is introduced into a receptacle in respective ones of the filling stations and the receptacles are transferred from one filling station to the other by means of transfer devices. The increase in the number of rotary platforms thus gives rise to increased cost and size of the installation so that such an installation can be justified only if large volumes of varying compositions are to be packaged.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,475 discloses a filling installation having filling nozzles connected to two distinct feed vessels each containing an ingredient to be packaged, each filling nozzle having two concentric pistons moving in a common chamber that is put into communication alternately with one and with the other of the two feed vessels. The common chamber is thus filled in succession with the two ingredients for packaging, and it is then emptied into a receptacle. Such an installation requires the common chamber to be large enough to contain the total quantity of product that is to be introduced into a receptacle, which means the installation is particularly bulky when receptacles are of large capacity. In addition, the ingredients for packaging are moved a first time in order to fill the common chamber and they are moved a second time in order to empty the common chamber into the receptacle, such that the rate of filling throughput is necessarily low.
An object of the invention is to provide an installation enabling receptacles to be filled with distinct products while reducing the cost and the size of the installation.
In order to achieve this object, the invention provides a receptacle-filling installation comprising a rotary platform supporting a first filling station comprising a first feed vessel having first filling nozzles connected thereto, and at least one second filling station comprising a second filling vessel having second filling nozzles connected thereto, adjacent to the first filling nozzles, the installation further comprising displacement members for imparting displacement to the receptacles relative to the filling nozzles.
Thus, each filling nozzle transfers one of the ingredients that is to be packaged directly into the receptacles, and a small displacement of the filling nozzle and the receptacles relative to one another suffices to enable the receptacles to be filled in part in each of the filling stations.
During the displacement of the receptacles relative to the filling nozzle, filling is necessarily interrupted. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, one of the displacement members is disposed between an inlet transfer device and an outlet transfer device relative to the direction of rotation of the rotary platform. Thus, one of the displacements takes place over a fraction of the rotation of the rotary platform that is in any case unusable for filling, thereby minimizing dead times between filling stages.